Fiery comments contrasting the “f*cked up” and “beautiful country” went viral after Kid Rock’s surprise opening act.
Hank Williams Jr., Jason Aldean, Big & Rich and Travis Tritt weren’t the only big names to grace the stage during the kick-off of Robert James Ritchie’s, AKA Kid Rock’s, Rock the Country tour in Gonzales, Louisiana. In the spotlight behind a lectern that read “United States of ‘Merica,” X host Tucker Carlson ignited a crowd “united by our love of country and under God.”
Listed as “HUGE SURPRISE GUEST” on Saturday’s schedule, Carlson’s introduction of Ritchie followed a set from Williams at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center and began with a candid take on what brought him to the show, and wound up with him knocking the narrative-driven media for divisiveness.
“The country they tell me about on the internet is f*cked up. The country that I experience when I walk through this crowd, or when I wake up in my town of 100 people in a rural area, is a beautiful country filled with beautiful people,” said the commentator during remarks shared online.
TUCKER CARLSON OPENS FOR KID ROCK CONCERT
“The country they tell me about on the internet is f—ked up. The country that I experience when I walk through this crowd or when I wake up in my town of 100 people in a rural area, is a beautiful country.”
Tucker’s a rock star. pic.twitter.com/Ags5DB2XZU
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 7, 2024
“I wound up here tonight because I was having dinner at my house with Kid Rock a few months ago,” began Carlson who divulged, “He said, ‘You should come and open for me on my summer tour.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m honored, of course, but I don’t play an instrument. Actually, I’m an unemployed talk show host, so what would I do at your show?’ And he said, and I’m quoting now, ‘You will figure it out, and you will like it.'”
“So that was two months ago. And I woke up this morning, and I thought, I gotta go to Gonzales, Louisiana, and open up for Kid Rock. What am I gonna say? And I had no idea until I got here,” the former Fox News host confessed.
Recounting how even he grew depressed looking at the news circulating online, Carlson pivoted to what was real before sharing an anecdote from the venue where he’d been drawn to a lighting rig he spotted in the shape of a cross, “A shape I like.”
“As I’m walking out,” he told the audience about approaching it, “this chick gets right in my face. She’s got two nose rings, a cross necklace and a Trump bracelet. And she looks at me right in the face, and she goes, ‘Ahhhh!’ And she said, ‘I love you.’ And I said, ‘I love you, too.’ And I meant it. And I thought, that’s the America that I know. A little weird, slightly crazy, full of love, and beautiful. And that describes the man I’m here to introduce.”
As the small-town tour was set to continue through the end of July with stops in Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missouri and South Carolina, Carlson’s opening act touched on the many who had traveled from far away like himself to participate, and at considerable costs before asking, “Can you put a price on living free in the last free country?”
“So let me tell you, my fellow Americans, what we’ve got. All gathered here tonight are free people united by our love of country and under God,” he suggested as a pulsing chord was struck to build anticipation. “And in the name of that country and that God, we’re here to celebrate a party that will not stop. And so, as I know you can, please be as noisy and disobedient as possible for Kid f*ckin’ Rock.”
Ritchie had also reacted to the high-energy crowd as he shared footage taken from the stage of the festival showing thousands singing along to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” with the caption, “Woke up to this…First night of ‘Rock the Country’ — GOOSEBUMPS!! So pumped to perform tonight!”
Woke up to this…First night of “Rock the Country” – GOOSEBUMPS!! So pumped to perform tonight! Kid Rock pic.twitter.com/u4frSdPrs4
— KidRock (@KidRock) April 6, 2024
As Carlson’s remarks went viral, social media users sounded off with many supporting the grounded perspective that looked beyond what corporate-backed talking heads were peddling.
He is right! If you listen to the internet, everyday should be awful.
Get out in your community, it is not.
— MoSmith (@MoSmithHMC) April 7, 2024
That sounds like an amazing experience! It’s incredible how different the online narrative can be from the reality we witness in our own communities. It’s heartwarming to hear that Kid Rock appreciates the beauty of the country and the people in it.
— Angel (@AngelAbaji) April 7, 2024
That was freakin awesome lmao
— STAY salty. (@saltinesnack) April 7, 2024
I loved the message and the patriotic energy! Beautiful to see
— Evelyn Glez (@EvelynGlez25) April 7, 2024
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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